A little more than sixth months after Oishi dethroned the Lakay MMA
representative with punches, they meet again in the One
FC 13 “Moment of Truth” headliner on Friday at the Mall of Asia
Arena in Manila, Philippines. Oishi captured the One FC
featherweight crown with his second-round knockout against “The
Rock” on May 31.

Oishi has spent the majority of his career inside the Pancrase
organization but made two failed appearances under the Ultimate
Fighting Championship banner, losing to LaVerne Clark
at UFC 25 and Nick Diaz at UFC
53. A professional since 2000, the 36-year-old Japanese veteran
owns wins over former Sengoku
champion Satoru
Kitaoka, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 winner Nate Diaz and
onetime lightweight King of Pancrase Naoyuki
Kotani. Not known for his finishing prowess, Oishi has gone the
distance 32 times in his 43-fight career.

One of the more promising prospects on the Asian MMA scene, Banario
has already held titles in two different weight classes: at 145
pounds in One FC and at 155 pounds in the Universal Reality Combat
Championship. The loss to Oishi halted a two-fight winning streak
for the 24-year-old Filipino featherweight. All eight of Banario’s
victories have come by knockout, technical knockout or submission,
four of them inside one round.

The Oishi-Banario rematch is but one under-the-radar matchup worth
monitoring during the month of December. Here are nine more:

De Almeida -- a fast-rising 22-year-old Brazilian featherweight who
splits his training between the
Chute Boxe and Macaco Gold Team camps -- has finished all 14 of
his opponents, 13 of them in the first round. He last appeared in
the Standout Fighting Tournament organization in September, when he
stopped Cemir Silva on
second-round punches in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Pacurariu would like
nothing more than to derail the hype surrounding de Almeida. A
national champion in kempo in his native Romania, the 29-year-old
has posted four wins in his past five bouts.

No woman on the regional MMA scene has drawn more interest or
spurred more intrigue than Holm. She owns a gaudy 33-2-3 record as
pro boxer, having won titles in multiple weight classes in multiple
organizations. The
Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts representative’s transition to the
cage has gone according to plan, as she has finished all five of
her opponents by knockout or technical knockout. Hayes, 40, has
delivered five victories in her past six outings, a submission loss
to Aisling Daly
the lone hiccup.

Widely regarded as the top middleweight not currently under UFC
contract, Khalidov has lost just once since September 2005. The
33-year-old Chechen will carry a seven-fight winning streak into
his rematch with Sakurai. Khalidov last fought at KSW 23 in June,
when he needed a little more than two minutes to submit Dutch
kickboxer Melvin
Manhoef. Sakurai, a well-traveled 42-year-old
Pride Fighting Championships, Shooto and
Deep
veteran, battled Khalidov to a draw in May 2010.

Esparza will defender her
Invicta Fighting Championships strawweight title against
Gadelha, an undefeated
Nova Uniao-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. The
26-year-old
Team Oyama representative has won four in a row and has
compiled a perfect 3-0 mark since joining the Invicta promotion,
including the unanimous decision over Bec Hyatt that
brought her the 115-pound crown in January. Gadelha, 24, has
secured eight of her 11 victories by knockout, technical knockout
or submission, seven of them inside one round.

Seery will defend his
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship flyweight crown for the
first time when he welcomes Gomez to the organization. The
34-year-old Irishman extended his current winning streak to four
fights and captured the 125-pound title when he submitted Finnish
export Mikael
Silander with a third-round armbar in June. A Marc Laimon
protégé, Gomez was once regarded as one of the world’s top 10
flyweights. However, his time in the UFC was cut short when
back-to-back losses to John Moraga
and Phil
Harris resulted in his release.

Daley will return to the
British Association of Mixed Martial Arts promotion for the
first time in more than two years, as he headlines BAMMA 14 against
da Silva. One of European MMA’s more controversial figures, Daley
-- who has a long history of missing weight -- has pieced together
a 10-4 record since he sucker punched Josh Koscheck
following their UFC 113 encounter, necessitating his release from
the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Da Silva, a 33-year-old
Blackzilians representative, has been knocked only once in his
35-fight career.

The undefeated Sajewski made himself a person of interest
internationally in 2010, when he handed fellow Polish prospect
Marcin
Held his first career loss. The 23-year-old “Wookie” has since
pushed his record to 11-0 with victories over Saulius
Bucius, Abi El
Khalfi and Alexander
Heinrich, dispatching Khalfi and Heinrich with first-round
armbars. At just 19 years of age, the promising Gniadek will look
to rebound from his first professional setback -- a unanimous
decision defeat to Artem Lobov
inside the Immortals Fight Promotions organization in August.

A former Sengoku and Shooto champion, Nakamura will carry a streak
of five consecutive wins into his Deep debut against Lee. The
29-year-old Japanese veteran holds a 26-2-2 record outside of the
UFC -- he went 0-3 inside the Octagon -- and has put away his last
two opponents, Nobutatsu
Suzuki and Kota
Shimoishi, with rear-naked chokes. Lee, 27, threw the brakes on
a two-fight losing streak in September, when he wound up on the
right side of a split verdict against the previously unbeaten
Yuki
Nakahara at a Gladiator event in Japan.

Alers will put his Cage Warriors featherweight crown on the line
for a second time when he collides with Turner on New Year’s Eve.
The 27-year-old Floridian won the 145-pound title with his April
submission against Finland’s Joni
Salovaara and successfully defended it with a five-round
unanimous verdict over Martin
Svensson in September. The once-beaten Alers has delivered
eight of his 11 career victories by submission. Turner, a
26-year-old Scot, will enter the cage on a five-fight winning
streak.